Interventions at the National Security Council and the U.N.

If personnel is policy, then barack Obama set a different tone in foreign affairs when he tapped U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice as his new National Security Adviser on June 5. By naming Rice, Obama placed his trust in a loyalist who is known for her support of U.S. humanitarian intervention overseas--and who is famously unloved by Republicans.

Rice, 48, was Obama's top pick to succeed Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State, in part because he felt that Rice, with whom he often dines, best knows his mind. But Republicans objected to her because she blamed last year's attack on the U.S....